Electric Forest is just less than six months away which is crazy!! The excitement is becoming so real and I am so excited to help ya’ll get ready. Camping with a group is such a fun way to experience forest because you get to be surrounded by your favorite people and get to have the best weekend of your life.
With camping with a group comes lots of planning to ensure your experience will be nothing but the best. I’ll be providing tips for those who are in the official group camping and unofficial group camping. This will mainly be for my folks in GA camping however some of this may be relevant if you are doing the other camping options.
The Spreadsheet
Ya’ll know I love a good spreadsheet. I am sharing with ya’ll the spreadsheet that I have used for multiple camping festivals to help plan who is bringing what and coordinating cars and travel plans. You can duplicate this spreadsheet and use it for your squad. Edit this as it can vary who can bring what and how many people you need
Tips for Unofficial Group Camping
If you are not in the official group camping area, then you are going to be placed in the camps around it in the bright green sections below (aside from ones that say RV). You don’t have any control of where you’ll get placed and if you have multiple cars in your caravan you MUST arrive together to get placed together. This will take a lot of communication to ensure you meet up somewhere before heading to Electric Forest.
Arrival Tips
There are two entrances for GA camping a north and south entrance. Last year we did Wednesday early arrival and got there around 4 pm. We had met at a hotel prior then we saw how long the line was for the south entrance and decided to take the north entrance. The whole process from getting in line to setting up camp took us three hours which was not bad. I know others who did the south entrance waited much longer.
When you get in line, keep an eye on the cars in your caravan to make sure no one gets cut off. It helps to have someone tell the other cars around you who are in your group as others are also trying to stay with their group. Forest fam is always nice so just be nice to others and they’ll look out for you. Security has multiple lines so depending on the size of your group either stay in one line or split up then regroup after car check.
Last year they did not check our car and were randomly selecting. Just be prepared to have your car searched and be friendly to the people searching your car it shouldn’t take more than five minutes. After security check, you’ll head to the campgrounds and it is a single line so hopefully, all of your cars are together. Just follow the directions of the volunteers and you’ll get placed together.
Start setting up camp and meet your neighbors! The spaces are marked out so make sure you stay within your space, but if you have multiple spaces then you’ll get more room. It’ll help to have some sort of plan ahead of time as to how you’ll want to organize your camp for an easy setup process.
They did add Tuesday arrival on top of Wednesday arrival which will hopefully help with the lines on both days for people arriving.
Tips for Official Group Camping
If you are in the official group camping area, you’ll be in the gray area on the map. This year they expanded this area so it’s going to be a big portion of the campgrounds. Group Camping already went on sale and is still available as of right now. You just need a minimum of 20 people to start a camp.
One benefit of group camping is that you don’t have to jump through all those hoops to coordinate arrival times. Each group camp gets an area sectioned out depending on the size of their camp. So you have a guaranteed area and a guaranteed number of cars available (1 pass per 3 people). The group leader gets one early arrival pass which is good for one car. If someone else in the group has purchased an early arrival pass, they may use it unless it’s a Tuesday arrival. You can only arrive on Wednesday if you are doing group camping.
Arrival Tips
Prior to the festival, a map will be sent out to the group leaders detailing which row and letter their group camp spot will be. Group camps are all together, but still follow the same “road” pattern that the rest of the campground has.
The group leader does receive a Wednesday early arrival pass where they can arrive and claim their spot. The group’s camp will be pre-marked with a sign and flags to show how much space you have. The security process is just the same as unofficial group camping.
After security, the group leader will tell staff that they are in group camping and their group pass will be scanned. The group leader will find their camp and begin set-up. Everyone else can arrive whenever they want as long as they have a parking pass. It’ll help to have some sort of plan ahead of time as to how you’ll want to organize your camp for an easy setup process.
I hope this was helpful! Let me know if you have any questions.
